Among the internally applied catamenial tampons presently on the market there is one type which comprises a compressed round-nosed tampon having an inserter stick or elongate rod-like member removably seated and frictionally held in a socket disposed in the rear portion of the tampon. When such a tampon is inserted into the vagina by the user, the greater resistance to movement between the outer surface of the tampon and the vaginal walls as compared to the resistance to movement between the inserter stick and socket walls is relied on to permit withdrawal of the inserter stick from the tampon after insertion. If the stick/socket resistance is higher than the tampon/wall resistance there may be some tendency for the tampon to be moved backward from its insertion depth as the inserter stick is being removed after the tampon has been inserted. In most instances, this latter condition is undesirable and the present invention is designed to provide a socket structure which insures that the frictional resistance between socket and inserter stick will be uniformly low, and will be maintained at a low level by preventing the inserter stick from penetrating too deeply into the socket as external forces are applied during manufacture or insertion.